On the Baptist side the writings of Huebmaier, or,
as he wrote his name, Huebmör, which are very rare, and
ought to be collected and republished. Calvary, in "Mittheilungen aus
dem Antiquariate," vol. I. Berlin, 1870, gives a complete list of them.
The most important are Von dem christlichen Tauf der
Gläubigen (1525); Eine Stimme eines ganzen christlichen
Lebens (1525); Von Ketzern und ihren Verbrennern; Schlussreden
(Axiomata); Ein Form des Nachtmals Christi; Von der Freiwilligkeit des
Menschen (to show that God gives to all men an opportunity to become
his children by free choice); Zwölf Artikel des christlichen
Glaubens, etc.

All the Reformers retained the custom of
infant-baptism, and opposed rebaptism (Wiedertaufe) as a heresy. So far
they agreed with the Catholics against the Anabaptists, or Catabaptists
as they were called, although they rejected the name, because in their
view the baptism of infants was no baptism at all.

The Anabaptists or Baptists (as distinct from
Pedobaptists) sprang up in Germany, Holland, and Switzerland, and
organized independent congregations. Their leaders were Huebmaier,
Denck, Hätzer, and Grebel. They thought that the Reformers
stopped half-way, and did not go to the root of the evil. They broke
with the historical tradition, and constructed a new church of
believers on the voluntary principle. Their fundamental doctrine was,
that baptism is a voluntary act, and requires personal repentance, and
faith in Christ. They rejected infant-baptism as an anti-scriptural
invention. They could find no trace of it in the New Testament, the
only authority in matters of faith. They were cruelly persecuted in
Protestant as well as Roman Catholic countries. We must carefully
distinguish the better class of Baptists and the Mennonites from the
restless revolutionary radicals and fanatics, like Carlstadt, Muenzer,
and the leaders of the Muenster tragedy.

The mode of baptism was not an article of
controversy at that time; for the Reformers either preferred immersion
(Luther), or held the mode to be a matter of indifference (Calvin).

Luther agreed substantially with the Roman
Catholic doctrine of baptism. His Taufbuechlein of 1523 is a
translation of the Latin baptismal service, including the formula of
exorcism, the sign of the cross, and the dipping. The second edition
(1526) is abridged, and omits the use of chrisma, salt, and spittle.812812 See above § 45, p. 218, and the two
editions of the Taufbüchlein in the Erl. ed. XXII.
157, 291. In both editions dipping is prescribed ("Da nehme er das Kind und
tauche es in die Taufe"), and no mention is made of any other mode. The Reformed
churches objected to the retention of exorcism as a species of
superstition. The first English liturgy of Edward VI. (who was baptized
by immersion) prescribes trine-immersion (dipping); the second liturgy
of 1552 does the same, but gives (for the first time in England)
permission to substitute pouring when the child is
weak. He defeated Carlstadt,
Muenzer, and the Zwickau Prophets, who rejected infant-baptism, and
embarrassed even Melanchthon. Saxony was cleared of Anabaptists; but
their progress in other parts of Germany induced him a few years later
to write a special book against Huebmaier, who appealed to his
authority, and ascribed to him similar views.

Balthasar Huebmaier, or Huebmör, was
born near Augsburg, 1480; studied under Dr. Eck at Freiburg-i. -B. and
Ingolstadt, and acquired the degree of doctor of divinity. He became a
famous preacher in the cathedral at Regensburg, and occasioned the
expulsion of the Jews in 1519, whose synagogue was converted into a
chapel of St. Mary. In 1522 he embraced Protestant opinions, and became
pastor at Waldshut on the Rhine, on the borders of Switzerland. He
visited Erasmus at Basel, and Zwingli at Zuerich, and aided the latter
in the introduction of the Reformation. The Austrian government
threatened violent measures, and demanded the surrender of his person.
He left Waldshut, and took refuge in a convent of Schaffhausen, but
afterwards returned. He openly expressed his dissent from Zwingli and
Oecolampadius on the subject of infant-baptism. Zwingli was right, he
said, in maintaining that baptism was a mere sign, but the significance
of this sign was the pledge of faith and obedience unto death, and such
a pledge a child could not make; therefore the baptism of a child had
no meaning, and was invalid. Faith must be present, and cannot be taken
for granted as a future certainly. Instead of baptism he introduced a
solemn presentation or consecration of children before the
congregation. He made common cause with the Anabaptists of Zuerich, and
with Thomas Muenzer, who came into the neighborhood of Waldshut, and
kindled the flame of the Peasants’ War. He is supposed
by some to be the author of the Twelve Articles of the Peasants. He was
rebaptized about Easter, 1525, and re-baptized many others. He
abolished the mass, and removed the altar, baptismal font, pictures and
crosses from the church.

The triumph of the re-action against the
rebellious peasants forced him to flee to Zuerich (December, 1525). He
had a public disputation with Zwingli, who had himself formerly leaned
to the view that it would be better to put off baptism to riper years
of responsibility, though he never condemned infant-baptism. He
retracted under pressure and protest, and was dismissed with some aid.
He went to Nikolsburg in Moravia, published a number of books in
German, having brought a printing-press with him from Switzerland, and
gathered the Baptist "Brethren" into congregations. But when Moravia,
after the death of Louis of Hungary, fell into the possession of King
Ferdinand of Austria, Huebmaier was arrested with his wife, sent to
Vienna, charged with complicity in the Peasants’ War,
and burned to death, March 10, 1528. He died with serene courage and
pious resignation. His wife, who had strengthened him in his faith, was
drowned three days later in the Danube. Zwingli, after his quarrel with
Huebmaier, speaks unfavorably of his character; Vadian of St. Gall, and
Bullinger, give him credit for great eloquence and learning, but charge
him with a restless spirit of innovation. He was an advocate of the
voluntary principle. and a martyr of religious freedom. Heretics, he
maintained, are those only who wickedly oppose the Holy Sciptures, and
should be won by instruction and persuasion. To use force is to deny
Christ, who came to save, not to destroy.

A few months before Huebmaier’s
death, Luther wrote, rather hastily, a tract against the Anabaptists
(January or February, 1528), in the shape of a letter to two unnamed
ministers in Catholic territory.813813 He calls it in a letter to Spalatin, Feb. 5,
1528 (De Wette, III. 279), "epistolam tumultuarie scriptam." He
alludes to it in several other letters of the same year (III. 250, 253,
263). "I know well enough," he begins, "that Balthasar
Huebmör quotes me among others by name, in his blasphemous
book on Re-baptism, as if I were of his foolish mind. But I take
comfort in the fact that neither friend nor foe will believe such a
lie, since I have sufficiently in my sermons shown my faith in
infant-baptism." He expressed his dissent from the harsh and cruel
treatment of the Anabaptists, and maintained that they ought to be
resisted only by the Word of God and arguments, not by fire and sword,
unless they preach insurrection and resist the civil magistrate.814814 The passage is quoted in § 11, p.
60. At the same time he
ungenerously depreciated the constancy of their martyrs, and compared
them to the Jewish martyrs at the destruction of Jerusalem, and the
Donatist martyrs.815815 Letter to Link, May 12, 1528 (De Wette, III.
311): "Constantiam Anabaptistarum morientium arbitror similem esse
illi, qua Augustinus celebrat Donatistas et Josephus Judaeos in vastata
Jerusalem, et multa talia furorem esse Satanae non est dubium,
praesertim ubi sic moriuntur cum blasphemia sacramenti. Sancti
martyres, ut noster Leonardus Kaiser [a Lutheran of Bavaria who was
beheaded Aug. 18, 1527] cum timore et humilitate magnaque animi erga
hostes lenitatemoriuntur: illi vero quasi hostium taedio et
indignatione pertinaciam suam augere, et sic mori
videntur." He
thought it served the papists right, to be troubled with such sectaries
of the Devil in punishment for not tolerating the gospel. He then
proceeds to refute their objections to infant-baptism.

1. Infant-baptism is wrong because it comes from
the pope, who is Antichrist. But then we ought to reject the
Scriptures, and Christianity itself, which we have in common with Rome.
Christ found many abuses among the Pharisees and Sadducees and the
Jewish people, but did not reject the Old Testament, and told his
disciples to observe their doctrines (Matt. 23:3). Here Luther pays a striking tribute to
the Roman church, and supports it by the very fact that the pope is
Antichrist, and reveals his tyranny in the temple of God, that is,
within the Christian Church, and not outside of it.816816 See above, p. 529 sq. By such an argument the Anabaptists weaken
the cause of Christianity, and deceive themselves.

2. Infants know nothing of their baptism, and have
to learn it afterwards from their parents or sponsors. But we know
nothing of our natural birth and of many other things, except on the
testimony of others.

3. Infants cannot believe. Luther denied this, and
appealed to the word of Christ, who declared them fit for the kingdom
of heaven (Matt. 19:14), and to the example of John the
Baptist, who believed in the mother’s womb (Luke 1:41). Reformed divines, while
admitting the capacity or germ of faith in infants, base infant-baptism
on the vicarious faith of parents, and the covenant blessing of Abraham
which extends to his seed (Gen. 17:7). Luther mentions this also.

4. The absence of a command to baptize children.
But they are included in the command to baptize all nations (Matt.
28:19). The burden of proof
lies on the Anabaptists to show that infant-baptism is forbidden in the
Bible, before they abolish such an old and venerable institution of the
whole Christian Church.

Melanchthon quoted also the testimonies of Origen,
Cyprian, Chrysostom, and Augustin, for the apostolic origin of
infant-baptism.

812 See above § 45, p. 218, and the two
editions of the Taufbüchlein in the Erl. ed. XXII.
157, 291. In both editions dipping is prescribed ("Da nehme er das Kind und
tauche es in die Taufe"), and no mention is made of any other mode. The Reformed
churches objected to the retention of exorcism as a species of
superstition. The first English liturgy of Edward VI. (who was baptized
by immersion) prescribes trine-immersion (dipping); the second liturgy
of 1552 does the same, but gives (for the first time in England)
permission to substitute pouring when the child is
weak.

813 He calls it in a letter to Spalatin, Feb. 5,
1528 (De Wette, III. 279), "epistolam tumultuarie scriptam." He
alludes to it in several other letters of the same year (III. 250, 253,
263).